“How amazing, having started searching the world for beautiful crystals since I was 25 years old, to now travel with Manya, my 25 year old daughter!

She has been playing with crystals at the Crystal Castle her entire life, and she sure has the eye and the gift to find beauty in the world and bring it back here to you, our Crystal Castle friends.

We caught up with old friends who have been finding crystals for us for decades, and while I didn’t have to teach Manya how to pick out the best, I did have to teach her how to say thank you in Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Arabic!
The team here is telling us this is the most beautiful collection of crystals they have seen, so come and check them out soon!”

Q. Can you tell us a little about yourself, how you came to be in the area and your connection to Crystal Castle.

I first came to the area about fifteen years ago from Germany. I had horticultural experience but of course the environment is so different from Australia and I felt like I almost had to start from scratch again.
I started a hobby nursery with a friend of mine just outside of Mullumbimby where we propagated everything from seed and cuttings. The nursery grew very big and my friend had to move on so I was left to manage it on my own and it became too much for me.
When Naren told me about his plans for the gardens at Crystal Castle I offered to sell my nursery and plants to him. Naren agreed and was excited by the rich varieties and species and because they had been propagated locally.

When we began designing the gardens for Crystal Castle we focused on choosing flowering plants for richness and colour. I was very excited about the plans, so much so that Naren asked me to head up the plant out team and this is how I began work at Crystal Castle.

I have a special connection with the gardens here and I feel I am around all my little children, which gives me such joy. My real aim is to provide people with understanding about the abundance of plants that we are privileged to grow at Crystal Castle and the surrounding area and to also inspire them with their own gardens.
Q. How long have you been part of the Crystal Castle team and what do you love about working here?

I have been working at Crystal Castle since the big plant out in 2005 and 2006 so, about 6 years now. Well, for me of course it is such an incredible team to work with. To work with someone who has such a creative vision is fantastic. It is such an incredible opportunity to be able to live my creativity and to be apart of such beauty for everyone to enjoy.

Q. Do you have a favourite dish from the Lotus Café?

The cakes, oh the cakes are just fabulous!

Q. Do you have a favourite statue or part of the garden?

Yes, the gardens around Lakshmi, particularly the red garden behind Lakshmi. I also really enjoy the gardens around Avalokiteshvara, Vishnu and Garuda. Those parts of the Buddha Walk are my favourites.

Q. If you could buy anything from the Crystal Castle, what would you buy?

Some of the big crystals like the large Rose Quartz in the gardens and the beautiful Clear Quartz generator at the beginning of the Buddha walk too.

Q. What is your favourite crystal and why?

I don’t really have a specific favourite, it changes all the time depending on what I am drawn to.

Q. Do you have a special moment or story about a Crystal Castle visitor?

Not one specific moment but I suppose for me it is just all of the lovely comments and feedback I get from visitors about the gardens and many say to me “When you are finished here can you come to my garden.”

Q. When did you get your first crystal and what was it?

When I was a teenager it was a Turquoise. I still love wearing Turquoise. They say Turquoise helps to protect against physical injury and are good for protection. I heard a story once about someone who fell and instead of breaking their leg their Turquoise broke instead. I wouldn’t want to break my leg, not in my job!

Through the eyes of...Jo Q. Name, nickname and tell us briefly about yourself? My connection to the Crystal Castle goes back quite a while. I used to work in one of the Crystal Castle shops in Brisbane, Crystal Living. For reasons of my own I felt it was time to make a move and decided to move to the area. My arrival here was crazy and fast but in less than week I had a cabin and a job here at the Crystal Castle. It was very synchronistic. My hobbies include singing, writing songs, crystals of course and anything creative and magical.

Q. What do you love about working here and how long have you been on the Castle team?I have been working here for over two years and it’s the energy of the Castle, and the land here, it is quite powerful. The beauty, the nature, the women and the staff I work with. Working here expands your awareness and I feel your spiritual growth, understanding and experience is fast tracked. It’s a quickening of information.

Q. What is your favourite dish from the Lotus Cafe?Thai chicken patties and salad. They are yummy!!

Q. Do you have a favourite statue and why?Yes I do, I have several but for now Avalokiteshvara. It’s the space around the statue too; it is very quiet, beautiful and nurturing. There is something very special about this area; the statue is an embodiment of Quan Yin. Lakshmi too, her space is very lush and magical. Also Durga, she is strength and power, she has been described to me as an Earth Angel.

Q. If you could buy anything from the Castle, what would you buy?Well, I would buy all the ‘Big Crystals’.

Q. What's your favourite crystal and why?That’s a tricky one; I have lots of favourites. At the moment I’m working with Larimar, Blue Lace Agate and Aqua Aura. These are what I am drawn to at the moment, however, it always shifts. Blue Lace Agate for communication and the lymph glands. Larimar, it is such a soothing and calming stone and Aqua Aura is absolutely amazing in its intensity and softness. Intuitively I feel these stones are helping me with my singing, as my music is moving forward.

Q. Do you have a special moment or story about a Castle visitor?Well, this moment was pretty amazing, it blew me away. I was working at the Welcome Hut and a mother and daughter came up to me quietly, they were on their way home. They said, ‘we just want to show you this photo. It’s very unusual’. The picture was of the mother and daughter standing in front of Lakshmi. They had another visitor take the photo for them. In the photo over the top of their heads and Lakshmi’s head was this pink light which then turned into purple light. They were between the light and Lakshmi. There was no way we could see how this light could have refracted from anywhere. It was such a special moment. I have since been shown many photos taken by visitors in places along the Buddha walk showing orbs of light.

Q. When did you get your first crystal and what was it?My very first crystal was from a lucky dip when I was a little girl. It was a Koala pendant with a piece of Opal set in its belly. I thought it was so beautiful, all shiny and I still have it.

My name is Lexie and I was born in Uruguay and moved to Australia as a baby. I feel very much at home here at the Castle. I was amazed when I first came here to see all the Amethyst Crystals from Uruguay.

Q. What do you love about working here and how long have you been on the Castle team?

I have been here at Crystal Castle for four years. What I love most of all about working here is the people. I love the people here and I feel like I’m with my family. It’s so playful, the girls are wonderful and we connect on such a deep level. I also love the animals here. We have quite a few little visitors. The tawny frog mouth owls that sit here in the Jacaranda tree by the Café everyday who also just happen to be my totem animal. Having the possums around too and I often see a koala on my way home walking through the gardens.

Q. What is your favourite dish from the Lotus Cafe?

Well my favourite dish to make here at the Lotus Café is the Mediterranean platter. It is a little more time consuming to make but it is so pretty, all the different colours and textures. All the flavours work so well together. It is like a landscape on a plate. The customers go oooh and arrh when you put it down on the table.

Q. Do you have a favourite statue and why?

My favourite statue in the Gardens is Nandi the bull because he is the lord of devotion. His devotion to Shiva, his unconditional love and pure devotion.

Q. If you could buy anything from the Castle, what would you buy?

There is a beautiful Dancing Shiva, Nataraj statue here that I just love. It always catches my eye.

Q. What's your favourite crystal and why?

I have two favourite crystals.. Pink Kunzite. It’s such a gentle teacher about unconditional love and it encourages humbleness, humility and selfless service. It is so beautiful, so feminine and it really makes us look at the deepest qualities of unconditional love. The combining of the Heart, Throat and Third eye chakras, I find it very potent. My other favourite is Turquoise. The Tibetan or the Native American, I love them both. The essence of wholeness, the story of bringing the Earth and the Sky together. The feminine and the masculine creating peace, balance and harmony.

Q. Do you have an anecdote / a special moment about a Castle visitor?

Yes, just recently a young girl came up to the counter, she was really upset, she had just found out she was allergic to soy, dairy and gluten. She said I’m sorry to be such a pain and there probably is nothing that I can eat. I went through the menu with her and found things that she could eat, she was so happy. It made me feel good that she felt happy and that we had nice things for her to eat.

Q. When did you get your first crystal and what was it?

My first crystal was given to me when I first met my Grandfather in Uruguay. I was thirteen, he gave me an Amethyst and I still have it. It is a little cluster, not shinny or sparkly, you can see that it is very old and it has Citrine coming in underneath the crystals.

Turiya Bruce, local artist, created the lotus mosaic on the infinity wall that surrounds the pond where the four metre high Buddha statue peacefully sits.

Turiya has been an artist since a very young child and is well recognised in the Byron shire and this was to be her first time working mosaic with glass as her medium. “As the infinity wall developed so did my talents working with mosaic. I was very inspired as I love the projects Sono and Naren King create at the Crystal Castle and I loved the giant Buddha that was coming to this site—I saw it before it was out of the crate and was so impressed. Two of these four metre high Buddha’s are carved at the same time, just in case one gets damaged along the way, and each one is carved from one huge piece of stone, one giant rock. When I saw the love that had gone into the carving of this massive statue I knew that I could be with this job and give it what it needs and make a really beautiful and sacred design.

I began by sitting at the wall and doing a little prayer asking that it be beautiful and guided so that it would turn out to be fitting for the Buddha. A lotus is symbolic of beauty that grows from the deep mud and I wanted the lotus on the infinity wall to show that we all can bloom and blossom into full flower, and I prayed this project I had taken on would blossom into full flower. The whole journey to create the lotus was really quite extraordinary, and it took around ten working days to complete. It was a significantly spiritual artistic experience and an amazing learning curve that was strongly guided.”

The giant Buddha and Lotus Infinity Wall are one of the special features on the Buddha Walk at the Crystal Castle.

My name is Karen and I moved to the Byron Shire from Adelaide in 2003. My first visit to the area was in Christmas 2002 for a holiday. My family and I loved it so much we returned to Adelaide, resigned our jobs, sold our house and here we are!

Q. What do you love about working here and how long have you been on the Castle team?

I have been a part of The Crystal Castle team for 7 years and find everyone here to be very supportive and respectful of each other both professionally and personally. I love to wander the gardens and spring time is my favourite season to be doing so.

Q. What is your favourite dish from the Lotus Cafe?

I love the Rice and Dahl in winter and the Chicken and Pumpkin Salad in summer.

Q. Do you have a favourite statue and why?

Yes, I consider myself to be a very compassionate person so Avalokiteshvara would have to be my favourite.

Q. If you could buy anything from the Castle, what would you buy?

I am often drawn to “Fairy Magic” it’s such an amazing geode.

Q. What's your favourite crystal and why?

That would have to be Rose Quartz – for love.

Q. When did you get your first crystal and what was it?

My first crystal was a beautiful clear quartz generator that was given to me in 2003 by Naren, the owner of the Crystal Castle because he admired my inner strength and courage.

To celebrate the creative buzz that flies around this region, the Crystal Castle has produced a special colour-in book that is now for sale at the Welcome Hut, the Gallery and Showroom.

Ganesh Goes… Colouring Book

This gorgeous colour-in book begins with a beautiful story about the Indian deity, Ganesh. Recognised as one of the most loved gods in Hinduism and considered a great protector and remover of obstacles, Ganesh is known as the Lord of Success and Wisdom. There is a range of wonderful pictures of Ganesh to colour in and the quality of the paper makes it perfect for artists of all ages and talents.

This is just another one of the many reasons children love to visit the Crystal Castle. Come and explore the mystery of the Labyrinth, follow the Kid’s Quest around the Rainforest Walk and experience the beautiful Buddha Walk and the winding pathways through magical gardens that are home to huge statues and mammoth crystals.

After your adventure on the Quest, enjoy a yummy treat from the special kid’s menu at the Lotus Café… and of course Fireheart the Dragon awaits all little people to come and play on his back in the playground.

My name is Julie and I moved here from Brisbane twelve years ago. I had a very good friend living in Byron Bay, who has now become the Byron Bay citizen of the year! I was looking for a sea change and it turned out to be a hinterland and sea change - Which is really beautiful.

Q. What do you love about working here and how long have you been on the Castle team?

One customer moment that really touched me was when a lady was visiting us and unfortunately her son had just passed away. She really wanted the prayer flags that we had hanging up on display. These flags definitely represented something special for her and she had particularly wanted them. So in the end I decided to give them to her as a gift from the Crystal Castle. The woman was very thankful and it turned out being a special and memorable moment.

Q. What is your favourite dish from the Lotus Cafe?

I really like the pumpkin and chicken salad.

Q. Do you have a favourite statue and why?

Yes, my favourite statue would have to be the enormous Buddha in the Lotus pond. I love it because it is so peaceful and the swaying bamboo back drop makes me feel like I’m in another place, country or just another world.

Q. If you could buy anything from the Castle, what would you buy?

I’m very attracted to the clear quartz generators, especially the Earth Keeper which is in the Gallery surrounded by the beautiful crystal singing bowls. I’m particularly drawn to it for its beautiful rainbows, energy and size.

Q Do you have a special moment or story about a Crystal Castle visitor?

One customer moment that really touched me was, a lady was visiting us and her son had just passed away. She really wanted the prayer flags that we had hanging up on display; she particularly wanted those flags, so I gave them to her as a gift. She was very thankful.

Q. When did you get your first crystal and what was it?

When I first started working here at the Crystal Castle, it was a small clear quartz cluster, a very pretty piece full of rainbows. I still have it and I love it. I am very drawn to clear quartz.